Saturday, September 27, 2008

Los Angeles, CA In an eight minute Video News Blog, the Full Disclosure Network reveals the eminent demise of “public access” cable television channels in the heart of the media world in the City of Los Angeles.

This video features clips from testimony of Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, a former Carter White House operative, who served as a Western Regional cable executive and public affairs television show host for Century Cable, Adelphia and Time Warner Cable companies in the Southern California area for over 20 years. Mr. Rosendahl emphatically laments the City’s move to shut down the public access cable channels.

Also appearing in the video is David Hernandez, long time civic activist and currently Executive Director of the San Fernando Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Hernandez describes how legislation sponsored by Southern Californians, State Assembly Leader Fabian Nunez and Lloyd Levine in 2007, sparked the move to shut down public access cable channels.

According to Hernandez, the Nunez/Lloyd legislation provided that cable companies could opt out of providing studio facilities by paying local governments a 2% cable franchise fee, instituting a “State Franchise Agreement” that is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission. In 1984 the Federal Communications Act, was enacted as bi-partisan legislation that mandated public access to cable channels to counter balance the dominance of government-funded cable channels.